A Doll's House (Dover Thrift)

I think it is a masterpiece, so much drama and suspense trapped inside such a small play, it is very clever and also leaves you feeling that you are a better person for having read it.

My partner paid 0.99 for this book, I would say this price does the book an injustice. A classic to rival 'The Medea'


A brilliant play on Marrige, Supression and Feminisme.   January 22, 2003
Lisabeth Vefall
33 out of 38 found this review helpful

Henrik Ibsen in one of the most famous Norwegian writers thoughout the world. And he is known for his plays where he gives a critical view upon the society.
In this play, everything happens around the main character Nora. She is innocent, naiv and has no education at all, just like most women of her social rank had at that time. Her husband, Torvald, is well known in the city, and his wife is just a "doll". She isn't supposed to have opinions on anything, just smile and look pretty in this male dominated world.
When Torvald Helmer finds out that his wife has "stole" money from her father to be able to pay for a health insitution for him, he's shocked. Nora, not understand what she might have done wrong, was only trying to help her husband, and yet protect her dying father. She wakes up, starting feel independant, wanting to discover herself...
Ibsen was a master of showing different sides of the social levels, and giving a critic view on what he didn't like. He has done it yet again, focusing on the marriage of these two people. Supression and a male dominated world is central aspects, and also the growing feminisme.
The book is worth reading for anyone how loves to read. It is truly one of Ibsen's best plays!


Themes and images I enjoyed thinking about.   January 26, 2001
16 out of 17 found this review helpful

When I completed reading, "A Doll's House", by Henrik Ibsen, I had thoroughly enjoyed, this particluar piece of literature and thought about how its themes and images, relate to my own personal experiences. Not only does the play have its motives for the past, but it also serves as a revealing a moral message for modern day society.

Whilst reading the text, Ibsen allows me to mentally picture, "A Doll's House", by so many walls and "doors", which confined the chararcters to becoming alienated within their own environment.

From beginning to end, the text focuses on how Nora becomes isolated by her husband's dominance, which is portrayed through his patronizing behaviour. He calls her, "little spendrift", "little squirrel" and manipulates his, "doll wife" when he articulates her moves, for practicing the "Tarrantella". Overall, Nora becomes the, "songbird" trapped within a cage.

Krogstad is symbolic for bringing the threat of the outside world, into Nora's idealized home, through his blackmailing behaviour. It is frightening to know the damage it causes to ruin a beautiful relationship, which is based on a lie, that metophorically contaminates and poisons individuals within an enclosed home.I found that the atmosphere was so stifiling for the characters,I felt symapthetic towards them.

Ibsen's moral message entails, in order for women to feel independent, they need to get to know themselves, so they are able to experience, develop knowledge and deal with the outside world alone. This is what Ibsen wanted to portray to a Nineteenth Century audience.Ibsen's play relates to everyday experiences, such as, "debt", causing a home to, "never be a place of freedom and beauty". This piece of literature is so powerful, that I believe it is one of Ibsen's most striking master pieces, I have ever read that deals with conventions and norms of women living in a Victorian masculine society.


An interesting and insightful text which I enjoyed studying   October 22, 2000
J. Knightsmith (Croydon, Surrey United Kingdom)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful

As a part of my A level studies I have concentrated on this text. I have found it most interesting and insightful if a little hard to comprehend at first. This edition is very good for the price but is by no means upto the standard of other texts which boast analysis and also the alternative ending. I have yet to find a good sudy guide to this text so it is perhaps worth investing in a more facilitative original text if your intention is for study.


Be inspired to read Ibsen's plays!!   October 22, 2000
4 out of 5 found this review helpful

This is a great version of the play. The notes and charcter information is really useful and I would reccommend this version to anyone studying A Doll's House. The translation is good and easier to follow than some other versions. It is also useful if you are studying the Victorian period because Ibsen had great insight into his society. It has inspired me to read more of Ibsen's plays.